Lawmakers question election official on registration glitch

RICHMOND, Va. (WDBJ) - State officials say they don’t know what caused a computer glitch that delayed the processing of some voter registration applications before the November election.

But Monday afternoon, they pledged to keep a close eye on potential problems until a new voter registration system is in place.

Local election officials across the state scrambled to process thousands of applications that were held up after they were submitted through the Department of Motor Vehicles.

During a joint meeting of the House and Senate Privileges and Elections Committees, Commissioner Susan Beals said the department was unable to replicate the problem that led to the backlog, but she told lawmakers the agency has stepped up its monitoring of the current system.

“We need to have real time information that something is going wrong as soon as it’s going wrong,” Beals said during the meeting, “so yes the monitoring is going to be a critical element that’s going to help us get through the next two years.”

The state has awarded the contract for a new voter registration system, and it is scheduled to begin operation in early 2025.

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